Bridges, culverts, overpasses, and the like, are traditionally constructed of expensive and environmentally incompatible steel structures, reinforced concrete structures, plastic structures and the like. Specifically, culverts used in road construction whenever a stream or creek needs to pass under the road, have been constructed of wood, concrete, corrugated steel or corrugated plastic pipes. These culverts corrode or deteriorate over time and must be replaced. Removal can result in damage to the stream or introduction of sediment to the stream, which is harmful to life in the stream. Costly mitigation techniques are required to prevent or limit the extent of damage and sedimentation.
Corrugated metal culverts and corrugated plastic culverts are subjected over time to freeze/thaw cycles, water erosion and dynamic vehicle loads. These actions can cause the soil compacted around the steel or plastic culverts to become loose and erode away, thereby leaving an uneven load distribution on the culvert, which accelerates deterioration. At some point, the uneven load distribution and soil erosion can be sufficient to cause the culvert to collapse. The culvert must then be replaced. However, simple replacement is no longer an option. The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans has in recent years passed regulations that require that the culverts must be replaced with open bottom structures that cause minimal damage to streams and do not interfere with fish migration and spawning, which includes salmon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,319, Sivachenko et al., 1988, discloses a more or less relevant stream crossing construction which is primarily intended for long spans (bridges) and uses concrete as a compressive component of the structure.